World Science Day for Peace and Development 2025; November 10th.

FORUM: "Trust, Transformation, and Tomorrow: The Science We Need for 2050." World Science Day for Peace and Development 2025. Join us live from the 43rd session of the UNESCO General Conference as we celebrate the day with a forward-looking conversation on the future of science. This event invites participants to reflect on what kind of science—and what kind of relationship between science and society—will be needed to meet the demands of the coming decades. Together, experts and policymakers will envision the scientific and societal landscape of 2050 and discuss how science can shape a more just, sustainable, and peaceful future. The General Conference is UNESCO’s highest decision-making body, gathering delegates from all 194 Member States every two years to set the Organization’s global priorities and guide its actions for peace, inclusion, and sustainable development. Through this dialogue, UNESCO reaffirms its leadership as the foundation of global scientific cooperation and the driving force behind the Science Decade for Action. To join the global conversation on the science we need for 2050; Follow the conversations with the hashtags: #Science4Policy, #sciencematters, #ScienceDay, #10November, #sustainableDevelopment, #WorldScienceDayforPeaceandDevelopment.

EVENT: On November 10th; 2025 from 1:15 pm - 2:50 pm, at the Room IX - Delegates Meeting Room #3 in Uzbekistan will celebrate the World Science Day for Peace and Development 2025 during the 43rd session of the UNESCO General Conference in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Organized under the umbrella of the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (2024–2033), this event celebrates World Science Day for Peace and Development by fostering forward-looking dialogue on the evolution of science and its role in shaping a just, sustainable, and peaceful future.The Participants will be invited to envision the scientific and societal landscape of 2050 and reflect on, and make informed forecasts about, the evolving role of science in shaping a more just, sustainable, and peaceful future. Participants will consider how feasible this may be and what changes are required to achieve it. It will explore the foundations of a renewed social contract with science, one anchored in public trust, diversified funding sources, a transformed scientific paradigm, open science practices, ethical responsibility, and inclusive engagement.

Key discussion themes

• Disruptive technologies and the future of research: How artificial intelligence and emerging innovations are redefining the scientific paradigm.
• A renewed social contract with science: Building trust through transparency, ethics, open science, and inclusive participation.
• Envisioning science in 2050: Science as a driver of sustainability and peace.

Register to participate!

Agenda Programme

13:15 – 13:20 Opening remarks
Ms Lidia Brito, Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences of UNESCO

13:20 – 13:35 Keynote speech
A renewed social contract with science
Ms Dilfuza Egamberdieva, Head of the Department of Biological Research and Food Safety at the Institute of Fundamental and Applied Research, National Research University, Uzbekistan
13:35 – 13:50 International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development
H.E. Ms Monique van Daalen, Co-Chair of the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development and Ambassador of the Netherlands to UNESCO

13:50 – 14:40 Panel discussion

• The evolving role of science in shaping the future and a renewed social contract with science
• International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (2024-2033)
• Engagement and trust in science
• Scientific paradigm transformation with applications of AI and other disruptive technologies
• The gender gap in science
• The role of the private sector in science

Q & A 
14:40 – 14:50  Closing remarks
H.E. Mr Samir Addahre, Chair of the Science Commission and Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to UNESCO 

Message from Ms Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of World Science Day for Peace and Development, 10 November 2025.

Science offers concrete solutions to the greatest challenges of our time: climate disruption, pandemics, resource scarcity and growing inequalities. It is a common good, a universal language, capable of bringing us together beyond borders and differences, linking knowledge to the pursuit of the collective good. Yet, in a world faced with widespread misinformation and distrust, we must come together to ensure that science is not reduced to a mere commodity or a political instrument. Science must instead be guided by ethics and solidarity, serving the common good. It is in this spirit that we celebrate World Science Day for Peace and Development under the theme “Trust, Transformation and Tomorrow: The Science We Need for 2050”. Trust cannot be demanded or decreed – it must be built. It grows through open and sustained dialogue between researchers, policymakers, private actors and citizens alike. Rebuilding trust in science lies at the heart of UNESCO’s 2021 Recommendation on Open Science, which calls for a global commitment to transparency, participation and accessibility. Through this recommendation, we can renew trust in science and ensure that it benefits all. But to produce the science of tomorrow, we must unlearn certain habits: we must move beyond silos – refusing to privilege certain forms of knowledge over others, or to confuse innovation with accumulation. Instead, we must relearn how to diversify, share, collaborate and listen. This means listening to researchers, but also to local and Indigenous peoples, whose insights and traditions enrich the collective understanding of our world. Only through active public participation can science truly serve everyone. To mark this year’s World Science Day, UNESCO is proud to publish a landmark anthology tracing 80 years of science at UNESCO, bringing together 46 essays by Nobel laureates, written for UNESCO between 1948 and today. It retraces the evolution of international scientific cooperation and diplomacy, the creation of leading institutions such as CERN and SESAME, the establishment of the Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme, and the development of global ethical frameworks on bioethics, artificial intelligence and neurotechnology. As part of the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (2024-2033), UNESCO is deepening this commitment by breaking down barriers in research, stimulating international cooperation and strengthening academic networks, and ensuring that science informs public policy at every level. On this World Science Day for Peace and Development, UNESCO reaffirms its conviction that open, inclusive, and ethical science – designed for the collective good – is the cornerstone of lasting peace.

UNESCO Director-General.

World Science Day for Peace and Development 2024; November 10th.

FORUM: "Why Science Matters - Engaging Minds and Empowering Future." World Science Day for Peace and Development 2024. The theme will highlight the important role of science in society and the need to engage the wider public in debates on emerging scientific issues. We will also underline the importance and relevance of science in our daily lives. By linking science more closely with society, This year’s observance aims to ensure that citizens are kept informed of developments in science. It also underscores the role scientists play in broadening our understanding of the remarkable, fragile planet we call home and in making our societies more sustainable. The launch of the Decade of Sciences marks an important step in global efforts to harness scientific knowledge for a sustainable future. Led by UNESCO, this Decade aims to mobilize a wide range of scientific disciplines, including basic and applied sciences, social and human sciences, as well as interdisciplinary and emerging fields, to contribute to transformative change in societies, economies, and the environment. By promoting scientific literacy and encouraging collaboration among governments, UN agencies, the private sector and civil society, the Decade seeks to enhance science’s role in pursuing sustainable development goals and working towards a safer, more prosperous future for all. Follow the conversations with the hashtags: #Science4Policy, #sciencematters, #ScienceDay, #10November, #sustainableDevelopment, #WorldScienceDayforPeaceandDevelopment.

EVENTS: On November 10th and during the International week of Science 2024, several activities, workshops and experiments will be held; Explore the International Council of Science (ICS) upcoming meetings and the AAAS upcoming events.

On November 12th, from 14:00 - 15:30 CEST, you are invited participate to the webinar entitled "Why Science Matters - Engaging Minds and Empowering Future.” to mark the World Science Day for Peace and Development 2024 at UNESCO Conference Room XI. In August 2023, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the period 2024-2033 as the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development. This year’s event will be held under the aegis of the Decade. It will present an opportunity to engage a wide-range audience, with a focus on young people (including through the UNESCO Youth Forum and Science Youth Network) and non-scientific participants in discovering and exploring the role of science in our rapidly-changing digitalized world. Young people will have the opportunity to ask questions to distinguished scientists about the ways in which science affects our daily lives and contributes to finding solutions to the most pressing challenges that the world is facing from local to global levels. In this context, the 2024 UNESCO World Science Day event event will close with the ceremony of the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science. Get the Agenda Programme and Register to participate!

PUBLICATIONS: Read the The UNESCO standard-setting instruments: the Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers (2017) and the Recommendation on Open Science (2021). These instruments articulate a vision where science ecosystems are driven by universal values and aim at making science and its benefits accessible to all.

STATEMENTS: Read the Statement from the Director-General of UNESCO on the occasion of the World Science Day for Peace and Development, 10 November 2024.


Science is essential to peace-building because it offers practical, sustainable solutions to contemporary global challenges. By seeking responses to climate crises, epidemics and resource shortages, science helps to mitigate the root causes of many conflicts. Beyond providing technical solutions, science forges a common language in which concord prevails over division. It creates unique opportunities for international cooperation, as illustrated by the International Centre for Synchrotron Light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME) in Jordan, which brings together scientists from throughout the Middle East, under the auspices of UNESCO.World Science Day for Peace and Development celebrates this impetus, which is reinforced by the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (2024-2033) proclaimed last year by the United Nations and placed under UNESCO’s leadership. This Decade encourages collaboration in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by increasing synergies between basic, applied and human sciences, and by strengthening cooperation in this area between governments, United Nations agencies, the private sector and civil society.Collaboration between all stakeholders is essential, and making this dialogue accessible to as many people as possible is precisely one of the key focuses of open science. In line with this aim, the Recommendation on Open Science (2021) promotes equitable access to scientific data, funding and equipment. UNESCO also supports the work of women scientists, who currently account for only a third of the world’s researchers. For 25 years, the partnership between UNESCO and the L’Oréal Foundation has supported the careers of over 4,400 women scientists in 140 countries. In 2024, UNESCO also launched a call to action to raise awareness in the scientific community of the need to promote the inclusion of women in research. In a changing world, it is urgent to increase funding for research and ensure that everyone has access to quality scientific education. UNESCO reaffirms its conviction that open, inclusive and justly supported science is the cornerstone of lasting peace.

Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director General.

World Science Day for Peace and Development 2022, November 10th.

FORUM: "Basic Science for Sustainable Development." World Science Day for Peace and Development 2022.

 The forum organized in celebration of World Science Day for Peace and Development, aims to highlight the significant role played by basic sciences in advancing knowledge for the wellbeing of society and its sustainable development. 

            

The objectives of World Science Day for Peace and Development are to:

1. Strengthen public awareness of the role of science for peaceful and sustainable societies.
2. Promote national and international solidarity for shared knowledge and scientific cooperation.
3. Renew national and international commitment for the use of science for the benefit of societies.
4. Draw attention to the challenges faced by science and raising support for scientific endeavours.

EVENT: Global Observance of the 2022 World Science Day for Peace and Development.
When: 10 November 2022.

Where: UNESCO HQ.  
From: 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm.
Rooms : Room VIII.
Type : Cat VIII - Symposia.
Arrangement type : Virtual.
Language(s) : French and English.

The webinar will offer an opportunity to showcase some of the ways in which learning from nature and deepening our understanding of complex natural and societal phenomena can lay the foundations for innovative solutions for the common good.

Outline of the webinar:

Keynote speech: The potential of basic science to deepen our understanding of nature.
Panel discussion 1: Modelling for the understanding of complex phenomena, relevant to sustainable development.
Panel discussion 2: Fostering sustainable development at the molecular level.

To Participate. Please register to participate in the live event on Zoom. Registration is free.
Register

CAMPAIGN MATERIALS:

The WSDPD 2022 poster is available in six languages (English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, and Russian). Please feel free to share it with your networks.

Learn more about 

• The International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development.
The UNESCO Science Report: the race against time for smarter development.